Friday, April 4th

We went to the village of Hofoa on our way into work today. We met with Salisi and the teachers and administrator of the Government Primary School in the village. We took pictures of the desks that we donated to the school. The parents and teachers have really cleaned up the rooms and they put some new coverings on the floors. It feels so much better than it did the last time we saw it. Now it is a place where the students will want to come and work hard. The kids love their new desks. Before we left, they presented us with a beautiful picture that was hand painted on a tapa cloth. It is a picture of the school many years ago. This school is the oldest primary school in Tonga. The ocean used to come right up to the edge of the village and the picture shows a little inlet where the first baptism into our church was performed. It will be a real treasure for us!!

Ana is leaving tonight to go to New Zealand to her son’s graduation from college. We knew we wouldn’t have much time with her today, but she didn’t even get into the office until after 11:00. We needed to get the Dental Clinic Project submitted today, before she left. She has to approve it before it can go on to the Area Office and she will be gone for a week. I had the project all written up and submitted but she couldn’t get into her CHAS account to approve it. If you have an LDS account, you have to change your password every 6 months to protect your account. 

She just changed her password and today the new one wouldn’t work. It was so frustrating!! It took about 45 minutes, but we finally got her on CHAS and the project approved. Now she can enjoy her trip and I can relax!!

On the way home we stopped downtown and did a little shopping. It is supposed to rain hard tomorrow and if that is the case we won’t want to go back in. We need to pick up a few things at the fair, but that might not happen if the weather is bad.

We stopped in at the FM office and talked to Toa and Silongo. Toa is helping us with the finances on the Vava’u Hospital Project. She sent all of the information off today and hopefully the supplies will be sent next week. We found out today the the company in Australia sent theirs a long time ago and they are already on the Warf. That will mean that we don’t have to wait for a boat from Australia. It shouldn’t take too long to get stuff here from New Zealand. They send ships more often.

While I was talking to Toa, Alan spent some time with Siolono talking about the best way to ship things home. We are trying to find a way to get all this stuff home!!! We really need to get right on that.

After dinner we went for another walk. My knee is doing much better today. Hopefully that means that there is nothing seriously wrong. We have tried to walk more this week and I really think that helps me.

 We have got to be more diligent about that. 

Every night this last week we have had spectacular sunsets as we have walked. Tonight I took the camera with me so I could get a picture of one.

Thursday, April 3rd

This morning when I got on the computer, I had an email with a list of questions Elder Reynolds wants answered about the Niua project. It took me most of the morning to do the research and get them all answered. Once he received the answers, I was able to go into CHAS and change what needed to be changed and add what needed to be added to that project and get it ready to submit. Elder Reynolds sent a copy of the email he sent me to the Mission President and to Elder Hamblin too. The funniest thing happened. He said that he needed a letter from the Mission President in support of the project. I have been telling the president that for a month. Elder Reynolds mentioned it this morning and I had the letter by noon! REALLY????? Sometimes I feel like we are so unimportant in the eyes of some people. When the big boys chime in, they jump! OK, that wasn’t very nice. I’m just grateful that we finally got it. Now we can move forward with the project.

Salisi, the Talking Chief from the village of Hofoa came to see us today. We have been helping him get some surplus desks for the primary school out there. He said that they have the desks all set up in the classrooms and he wants us to come in the morning and take some pictures with the students and the teachers. We will be happy to do that!! While he was here we were talking about his job as a Talking Chief. He is a very important man here. There are only 8 Talking Chiefs in Tonga. They meet with the King and then with other government officials to tell them what the King said. They have to know a different level of Tongan to talk to the King. You don’t speak to him in the same terms that you would use with commoners. It was really interesting.

Alan has turned into his dad. While Salisi was in our office, Alan asked him if he could arrange a tour of the Palace for us. You can’t get on the Palace grounds unless you are invited by the King. No one lives in the Palace now, it is just used for special occasions. Kings, Queens, Presidents, people like that are invited there, not missionaries. Salisi said that he would be meeting with the King tomorrow. He will ask if we can go. The guard over the Palace grounds is from the village of Ha’utu, where we did a water project. He knows us. Who knows, we might just get to do it. We’ll see. I couldn’t believe that Alan would ask him, but then I remembered Ken and that is definitely something he would have done. Like father, like son.

When we got home I fixed a big spaghetti dinner to take to a family in our ward. Siosi just had a baby girl and Sister Mitchell and I took dinner to her tonight. We didn’t know where they lived until tonight. We only see them at church. She used to be the Relief Society President in the ward and her husband is in the bishopric. Their home is very humble, not even as big as our living room. There is a bed just inside the door. Lots of people here do that because it is cool there at night. There were mats on the floor where they sit and a table where they eat. They have a piece of material hanging down for a door that lets the air circulate and that is pretty much it. They have 4 little boys and now a baby girl. What a sweet, precious family.
Tonight was temple night. It felt so good to be back in the temple after missing a couple of weeks.
 

Wednesday, April 2nd

Because we had such a big day yesterday, we spent the day today trying to catch up on everything that we didn’t get done. I had a lot of emails to answer and we received the invoices for the equipment and supplies for the Vava’u Hospital Project. I was excited about that, now we can get the companies paid and hopefully everything will arrive before we leave and we will be able to do the closing ceremony.

Lapo came from the hospital to put more wheelchairs together. It is for sure now that either he or Siua will lose their job in June. Once we leave and there are no more wheelchairs to put together, there won’t be enough for two of them to do. Australian-aid is cutting off the funding to the hospital so a lot of people will be losing their jobs. We are sick about that!

I was able to finish up the Friends and Family letter and get it sent off today. I am always glad to get that off. I love to tell people what we are doing here, but I never have time to sit down and write it. It’s a relief to have it sent.

When we got home, Alan took the car in to have it washed. We have driven all over the island in this rain and it was a mess!! It looks sooooooooooooooooo much better!!

We were able to walk tonight. We just went slow but my knee is feeling a little better. It felt good to get out and walk. I think the reason that I have a hard time sleeping is because I am not doing enough physical stuff. Sitting behind a desk all day wears me out mentally but not physically. I am really looking forward to getting home and being able to walk around the block again.

Tuesday, April 1st

We had a huge day at the office today. Things just never seem to slow down around here. We had truck loads of root crops and seedlings delivered to the office that we are shipping over to Ha’api. We also had to get some wheelchairs on that same boat. That took most of Alan’s time.

I had to write up a project for the dental clinic and try to get in touch with the head doctor at the hospital in Vava’u. That project has been approved and we have not been able to contact him to get the process of ordering the equipment for the hospital started. We emailed him last week but he didn’t respond. I worked on that all morning.

By 1:00 we could see that we weren’t going to make it home for lunch, so we ordered take-out from Wave’s restaurant next door. I had fish and chips and Alan had a hamburger. It is WAY MORE than we are used to eating for lunch! Alan was ready for a nap and I was ready for a walk but we had to keep working.

Dr. Reynold, from Vava’u emailed me this afternoon. He has been down with the flu. He is thrilled about the project passing and he sent me the phone number of the lady that we need to contact here to get the ordering started. I talked to her and she said that the equipment from New Zealand was already on its way. REALLY!! Sure glad this project passed or someone would have had a hard time paying for that. This is a $100,000 project. We don’t have that kind of money just laying around. We will get an invoice for the stuff from New Zealand tomorrow and get that ordered. Hopefully it will come quickly and we can finish this project before we leave. We would love to make one more trip to Vava’u.
Alan and Ana were able to get all of the crops and the wheelchairs on the boat by 5:00 and then we headed for home. That was a LONG DAY!! We were still full from lunch so I didn’t make a big dinner. That was nice. We ended the day by delivering the April calendars to all of the senior missionaries and then writing in our journals.

The Kamala and ofi had to be bagged and then we sewed the bags shut. We did this with 5 truck loads of crops.

When the root crops arrived, they all had to be bagged or put in Tongan baskets to be shipped to Ha'api. These are seedlings that can be planted in Ha'api.